Richard Jefferson Game Quotations

We won the division (this way). You lose a game and have a bad shooting night and people question what you were doing. This is a guy who's an All-Star and has done so many things throughout the season there's no need to question it now.

Vince hit some shots. He is going to shoot whether he is hot or not, but we have so much confidence in him. He received criticism from the media, he received criticism from different people, but it wasn't from anyone in this locker room. It wasn't from anyone in the coaching staff, because we believed in him and believed that he had the right intent. That was one of his games that you just forget about it and know that he is going to come out and play well the next one.

You might struggle on the road or you might lose a home game or two, but this is new to us, and new to me.

Everybody's surprised. There's guys, not naming anybody, that won't sniff the playoffs, that are 15 games under .500, that are playing in the game. But it is an All-Star Game. It's an individual performance game. Very rarely do team players get rewarded. He's probably the best team player in the game.

I was teasing him in the guts of the game. Hey, are you going to make a shot? That's the way we are as a group. We have so much confidence in each other, there is no need to get on anybody.

He was unreal tonight -- inside and out. His confidence just grew and grew as the game wore on and it was just great to see.

We understand that this next game is going to be the hardest one of the series.

Everybody was to blame. You have a chance to win on the road, and the last 10 possessions, you don't get many stops. That's what it comes down to. Forget everything that happened the first 40 minutes of the game. The last 10, 15 possessions, that really determines how this game adds up.

He's always at the game and he's a staple in New Jersey. People come to games just to see if he's going to be there. He's very positive when it comes to the team and it has a good effect.

It is huge. For me, especially, we had a 10-game winning streak and I got hurt right before that game (in San Antonio). I wasn't able to play. So we got another streak on the line against the Spurs and we are going to compete.

I feel confident every game now. We have our whole roster, and we're playing well.

I believe we're going to be OK. Fortunately, it's not the best-of-1. This isn't the NCAA Tournament. You have a few more games to play before it's over with. So we just have to do better.

The Nets, since I've been here, are going to be judged by how you play in the playoffs. You win a lot of games in the regular season, we're still going to be judged by how you play in the playoffs. This is good, this is great, but we understand ultimately what's the big picture.

He understands what the coaches want, understands different people's game and he really understands his own ability. He's a lot more aggressive.

Realistically, I haven't played well since I came back. Nobody plays perfect in this league but I haven't played a good game since I got back. Tonight it was turnovers and missed free throws. I need to figure this out if I'm going to help our team.

You try and win as many games as you possibly can. If in that time you catch them, then you catch them.

He took control. He did what he wanted, on the pick-and-roll, he got to wherever he wanted, he found open guys, he got to the basket. He got to the free throw line. I think that's what really got his game going.

You can do that because you won the first game. Just wait until after Game 2.

There's a lot of ups and downs to every playoff series. We didn't really get dominated. It was a game that was back and forth. They got (a questionable foul) call with 0.9 seconds to go that put them on the free throw line. That was the difference in the game, 0.9 seconds. So we weren't that far off.